Joliet OKs limits on overnight truck parking

The City Council on Wednesday approved a measure aimed at controlling random semitrailer parking in Joliet.

The new ordinance is aimed at trucks parked on private lots overnight, a concern raised from time to time without the city being able to put a stop to it.

Joliet resident Jim Lanham spoke in favor of the ordinance, noting that certain lots around town have become improvised spots for truck parking overnight and sometimes longer.

“They sit there for days at a time,” Lanham said. “They sit there idling. It’s a bad look for the city.”

The ordinance, approved in a 9-0 vote, requires that private property have a new city permit that allows for semitrailer parking before they can be parked there.

The ordinance would not apply to trucks making business deliveries.

City legal staff at a previous council committee meeting said the ordinance is aimed at dealing with the difficulty faced by police in determining whether a semitrailer owner has permission to park from the property owner.

Two spots commonly associated with random semitrailer parking are the lot outside Tony’s Fresh Market at Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue and the space outside the vacant Sears store at the Louis Joliet Mall.

However, council member Suzanna Ibarra said the problem has been spreading as she thanked council member Jan Quillman for the ordinance previously reviewed by the Land Use and Legislative Committee that Quillman chairs.

“Up and down Jefferson Street looks like a truck parking lot at this point, and I appreciate everything you did to bring this forward,” Ibarra said.

The ordinance applies to vehicles rated to pull 20,000 pounds, which would cover semitrailers and tractors without the trailers attached.